Perhaps people are just rethinking their values towards Christmas and many around the country are just feeling the pinch. Perhaps not, with reports of festival season shopping booming and retailers estimating $47 billion would be spent across the nation in the six-week lead-up to Christmas day.

With noticeable leakage once again to bigger retail shopping centres and online shopping, rural retailers continue to face a range of issues.

Often unless you are a business owner yourself you may not understand the real importance of supporting local businesses.

Many of us have felt the effects of having a local business close their door. It opens up an opportunity for us to quickly pass judgement. But when was the last time you actually purchased something from them?

Congratulations to many of our cafes and eateries for giving it their best shot to remain open for as much of the holiday break as possible.

One café in particularly, the Long Room, opened every public holiday except one, when refrigeration issues closed the door.

Kathryn Abbott explained that while her customer base is mainly locals and many go on holidays at this time of year, she has been criticised in previous years for not opening on public holidays. Asked if commercially it was the right decision the answer was “ no”.

Running a hospitality business can be ­difficult around Christmas time for owners and managers forced to weigh up the pros and cons of trading over the festive season. 

Leading up to Christmas we were pleased to announce the winners of the Dungog District Chamber of Commerce and Dungog Chronicle Christmas decoration competition.

The judges’ pick was the Coffee Bean Cafe. The business with the most votes was Dungog Newsagency. The winning voter was Steve Gorton, of Glen Martin, who cast his vote at Clarence Town Post Office.

Many thanks to everyone who supported this competition once again this year and our thanks to Dungog Chronicle, who once again sponsored this initiative.